Poor Lake Erie: The Rodney Dangerfield of the Great Lakes just can’t get a break.

Time magazine declared Lake Erie declared dead in the 1960s, when the lake was actually too alive with algae. Sadly, the algae blooms that made Lake Erie look like pea soup and tarnished this wonderful’s lake’s reputation in the 1960s have returned and recaptured the national media’s attention. (I wrote an article about this problem last year, which you can read here.)

Now comes the New York Times with a lengthy article on Lake Erie’s toxic algae problem. It’s a very informative article, albeit depressing. Because Lake Erie is a bellwether for the other Great Lakes, all of us who live in the region and work to protect these majestic lakes should pay close attention to what happens to Erie.